For years, the entertainment industry has had technology to digitally insert people into motion pictures. Artificial intelligence has now put that technology in the hands of anyone with a reasonably powerful computer. As the technology spreads and becomes more accessible, alarms are being sounded about its risks. These range from the potential exploitation of celebrities, to fake pornographic content, to the potential to threaten national security.

This presentation will explore the deepfakes phenomenon. It will provide a brief introduction to the technology, including its positive, negative, and downright horrifying applications. It will then focus on a few areas where deepfakes pose the most threat---including pornography/unauthorized nudity, “fake news,” and other malicious uses of the technology---and why current law and technology are not keeping pace.

Finally, the presentation will look at what is being done to address the phenomenon, including the groundbreaking deepfakes bill recently signed into law in California.